160 MACASSAR TO THE ARU ISLANDS [chap, xxviii. 



me to pay on my return exactly what I liked. " And then," 

 said he, " whether you give me one dollar or a hundred, I 

 shall be satisfied, and shall ask no more." 



The remainder of my stay was fully occupied in laying 

 in stores, engaging servants, and making every other pre- 

 paration for an absence of seven months from even the 

 outskirts of civilization. On the morning of December 

 13th, when we went on board at daybreak, it was raining 

 hard. We set sail and it came on to Mow. Our boat was 

 lost astern, our sails damaged, and the evening found us 

 back again in Macassar harbour. We remained there four 

 days longer, owing to its raining all the time, thus render- 

 ing it impossible to dry and repair the huge mat sails. 

 All these dreary days I remained on board, and during the 

 rare intervals when it didn't rain, made myself acquainted 

 with our outlandish craft, some of the peculiarities of 

 which I will now endeavour to describe. 



It was a vessel of about seventy tons burthen, and 

 shaped something like a Chinese junk. The deck sloped 

 considerably downward to the bows, which are thus the 

 lowest part of the ship. There were two large rudders, 

 but instead of being placed astern they were hung on tlie»' 

 quarters from strong cross beams, which projected out two 

 or three feet on each side, and to which extent the deck 

 overhung the sides of the vessel amidships. The rudders 

 were not hinged but hung with slings of rattan, the friction 



